My Friends Step-Brother

Ch. 3 Morning Practice

RORY'S POV

"Good morning, sweet girl," I heard my mom's voice while waking up. I open my eyes to see my mom gently shaking me to wake up. I smile up at her while I stretch.

"Today is Monday, you have morning to practice." She said calmly while rubbing my head.

"Okay, thanks, mom," I said while she walked out of my room.

Mondays, I have morning practice, and the rest of the days I have after-school practice. I play lacrosse. I am usually the goalie, but if I'm not playing that, I play attack. I have loved the sport ever since I was little. I used to watch it on Sunday with my dad, I remember knowing I would eventually play... for him.

I am also team captain, so I have to get there earlier than the other girls.

I take a shower and put my hair back in a high ponytail. My hair is naturally wavy, so it's not totally perfect, but that's okay. After practice, it's going to be a mess anyway. I put on sweats, a tank top, and my favorite Notre Dame LAX crew neck over the top.

I put my slides on, grab my cleats and gear, and go out to my car. I have my moms old 2000 Honda Acord. I love it so much, so many memories and so much character.

When I finish setting up practice with my coach, Coach Jen. My best friend Carmen arrived with some of the other girls.

I go up to her and give her a hug. We have been best friends for as long as I can remember her mom works with my mom at the hospital, so we knew each other before we were born.

"I have the craziest thing to tell you," I say, holding her hands.

"Tell me, tell me!" She begs before saying, "I was stuck watching Tanner and Mia all weekend! I need something exciting!" She pulls on my arms. I feel bad for Carmen most of the time she is always stuck watching her step-dads kids. She never gets any free time.

"You know Jer's step-brother he has been talking about?" I ask. She nods in response.

"Well, he moved in, and he climbed over my fence yesterday -" I wasn't able to finish before she interrupted, "He did what!"

"He climbed over my fence because his football went over our fence." I said. She nods in agreeance telling me to continue.

"He kept flirting with me... I think he was anyways-" I was interrupted again when Carmen said, "Let me guess instead of being flirtatious back you gave him mouth," She looked at me with her usual expression of 'you know I'm right.'

"Well, is he hot?" she asks, shaking my hand and giggling like we were in the 5th grade.

My face must have turned a little red because she said, "Yay! That means that he is! Finally, some eye candy around here. You better get on that one cause the girls around here are like sharks, especially Grace. They can smell him from a mile away and eat him up in no time." Carmen says.

Carmen has been looking for a man since before she could crawl. I wouldn't say she is boy crazy... but close. I don't understand why she hasn't found one because she is one of the most prettiest person I have ever seen. She has brown hair with a natural curl that looks like it was perfesionaly done when she wakes up. Unlike mine, where I have to do everything in my power to look somewhat decent. Her mom is Mexican, and her dad is white. They got divorced a few years ago, but they still get along really well. So she didn't have that much of a problem adjusting. To top her off, she has a nose ring, which fits her perfectly. She looks so good in it. If she wasn't my best friend, I would be jealous.

She wasn't wrong about the girls around here, especially Grace, but there was no way even if I wanted to, which I don't, that I would ever go out with him. He is way to in to himself.

"Well, luckily for Grace, I don't want him, so she and the other 'sharks' can have him," I say, laughing.

"mhm," She says, looking suspicious, as she says, "We will see about that." Before Coach Jen pulls me aside.

Coach asks me to tell the team the plan and the drills for the day. While she goes and gets the boys team.

Monday morning practice is the only time we practice with the boys. Our coach and their coach, Coach Dom, are married. So they like conjoined practices. It's also good for us. We push each other in a way our coaches can't.

I am telling my girls the plan for today, but I know they aren't listing by the smiles on their faces. I can tell the boys are walking up. My back is to them, but their faces are to them. I eventually give up and turn around to face them. Carmen is standing next to me.

But the only face I see is his. Looking right back at me leading the boys' lacrosse team is Joshua Jackson. My face is in shock. He gives me the biggest smile.

"Girls, I would like you to introduce our newest member, Joshua Jackson," Coach Dom tells us.

"Hi!" He says quickly but in a way that makes even me look at him.

I can hear all the girls behind me giggle and whisper about him.

Carmen leans in and whispers so no one can hear, "That's him?"

I nod. She mouths OMG while smiling. I give her a nudge on the side to tell her stop because she is drawing attention to us.

I look back at Joshua to find he is still staring at me.

The coaches start telling everyone the plan for the practice. I try to pay attention. But I can see from the corner of my eye that Joshua is still staring at me. For some reason, it made me lose all of my concentration.

Our coaches finished talking and told us to get with a partner and stretch before running 4 laps around the field.

I look to Carmen, but she has a devilish look in her eye. She looks behind her and asks Scarlett, another girl on our team, to stretch. She looks back at me, winks, and gives me two thumbs up.

I turn back around to see Joshua right there. He is smiling with his hands on his hips. Out of the corner of my eye, I see all the girls staring at him.

I cross my arms and ask, "You know this isn't football practice, right?"

He laughs and replies, "It's not? I could have sworn this is where they told me to go." He says, looking around sarcastically.

"Ha ha," I reply while turning back around, walking away. I would rather stretch by myself than with him. But before I do, he grabs my arm and pulls me back.

"Oh no, it looks like you're stuck with me. Everyone else has a partner, and I hate to let our coaches down on my first day." he says, pouting.

"Fine," I reply.

"You didn't tell me you play lacrosse," He asks while mirroring my stretches.

"Why would I tell you that you are a complete stranger," I look at him, and I can't help but smile when he is already looking at me.

"I guess that's fair," He says back.

"You said you played football." I asked.

"I am into a lot of things. I also play football, and hockey." He says.
I dont say anything else.

We finished stretching in silence. When everybody started to run, I said,

"I'll race you," with a huge grin. Nothing I love more than competition. Especially when it comes to Joshua, I really need to show him that someone can be better than him.

I look at him, he has a huge smile, something tells me he loves competition too. He takes off his shirt, showing off his abs. I couldn't help but look, when replying, "Really? You just had to do that?"

"Not everyone wants to see that, you know," I tell him, looking him straight in his eyes. He bends down and whispers in my ear, "Then why is everyone looking?"

I turn around to see every girl on my team, even Carmen looking over. My face turns flush with frustration. I had to think of something to say, "That's because they are wondering why the new kid is dumb enough to take his shirt off when it is 37 degrees out," I say with a grin. He smiles back.

He replies with a huge smile, "I would love to run smart ass." Great, a new nickname, I always love when that happens.

I look over at him and say, "Ready. Set. GO." We took off running.